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| Srbek-Araujo, A.C. | |
| Do female jaguars (_Panthera onca_ Linnaeus, 1758) deliberately avoid camera traps? | |
| 2018 Mammalian Biology (88): 26-30 | |
Female jaguars have lower capture rates because they move less, have smaller territories and use habitat differently than males. Also, I found evidence that suggests that females may avoid camera traps and thus cause a sex bias in camera trap records. Most records of females (83%) were from the first year of a 54 month study (2005-2013), and 79% of those were during the first six months of camera trapping. Males were also captured at a greater rate during the first six months of sampling (39% of all records), and they were recorded continuously when camera traps were installed on roads (in contrast to females). A previous study found individual heterogeneity in capture probability and estimated 78% annual survival probability for the local population over five sampling periods. If population size was declining, a bias towards a greater rate of decline in females (or the disappearance of only females) is unlikely (males continued to be captured), and does not explain the fourfold reduction in the capture success of females after the first six months of sampling (four females were present throughout the entire first period). The deliberate tendency of females to avoid camera traps, more than males, as I suggest here, may cause a bias in determining both population size and sex ratios in jaguars, as well as an important underestimation of reproduction, thereby biasing estimates of population structure. This issue is important when using camera-traps to examine feline population biology and requires further evaluation. |
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